1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a medical imaging apparatus and a medical information processing apparatus, each of which is operative, based on an instruction given by a user, to process and display the medical information. The present invention further relates to a method of such processing and display based on the instruction.
2. Discussion of the Background
Various types of medical image diagnosis apparatuses are used for medical examinations so as to obtain information inside a patient's body. One type of such an apparatus is an ultrasound diagnosis apparatus. In the ultrasound diagnosis apparatus, so-called B mode images and so-called M mode images are often produced and used for various medical diagnoses. The B mode image is a tissue tomogram of soft tissues inside the patient's body, produced in an ultrasound reflection method. The M mode image is an image aligning tissue images in parallel included in a line of the tissue tomogram in time series. By referring to the M mode image, a doctor or other user of the ultrasound diagnosis apparatus (hereinafter referred to as a user) can observe a morphological variation over time of a heart, blood vessels, and the like in detail.
An ultrasound diagnosis apparatus implementing such diagnoses mentioned above, has some advantages in the following aspects, compared to an X-ray diagnosis apparatus, an X-ray computed tomography, a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus, and a nuclear medicine diagnosis apparatus such as a SPECT and a PET. For, example, the user can easily observe a motion of a heart or a fetus in real time by touching an ultrasonic probe on a body surface of the patient. In addition, the user can obtain a spectrum or a spatial spread of blood flow through a Doppler effect. Further, an ultrasound causes very little harm to a human body, and so it is possible to repeat examinations with an ultrasound. Still further, an ultrasound diagnosis apparatus is very compact in size, and so an examination can be made with the apparatus placed at bed side. Therefore, an ultrasound diagnosis apparatus is widely used for medical examinations including those for a heart, an abdomen, a mammary gland, a urinary organ, and obstetrics.
A lot of ultrasound diagnosis apparatuses are regularly or optionally equipped with an application program for measuring structural sizes of a distance, an area, a volume, and the like of various tissues based on a B mode image, and also for measuring a variation over time based on an M mode image. Measurement results and calculation results from such measurements are not only displayed but can also be edited freely in a worksheet. The edited results can finally be output as a report. This is, for example, introduced in Japanese Patent Application Publication Nos. 2001-61836 and 2002-282250.
Further, the above-mentioned measurements may be implemented in an ultrasound image processing apparatus having a similar application program. The ultrasound image processing apparatus is connected to and receives ultrasound images from the ultrasound diagnosis apparatus. Accordingly, such measurements can be realized even in a remote place.
Recently, measurement functions have been specialized for each purpose of, for example, circulatory organ diagnosis and fetus diagnosis. This specialization results in a great number of measurement parameters and calculation parameters. Further, a lot of authors are present with respect to calculation techniques of the calculation parameters. Usability and significance are different among these calculation techniques. Therefore, the selection of a calculation technique is left entirely up to the user.
Under this situation, however, a lot of measurement parameters and calculation parameters are displayed in an operation panel. This leads to a problem of requiring the user to spend time to find desired measurement parameters in the display. Further, since a lot of measured data and calculated data are displayed in a display monitor, there is a problem that the user must spend time to find desired or interesting data from among the displayed measured data and calculated data. Still further, there are displayed a plurality of measuring calipers which are used for designating a point or a range to be measured in the display monitor. Therefore, it is a problem for the user to take time to recognize which measurement caliper the desired or interesting measured data and calculated data are based.